Commonly, a protective garment worn by a firefighter, a rescue worker, or a racing car driver comprises a coat, which may have a collar and which may have plural layers, a liner, which may have plural layers and which may be thermally insulated, and fastener means, such as snap fasteners, which are used for attaching the liner detachably to the coat, at spaced intervals. Commonly, such a garment is worn with a hood having a cape, which hangs downwardly so as to cover the firefighter's shoulders. Usually, if snap fasteners are used, each fastener has a male portion and a female portion with one such portion affixed to the coat and with the other portion affixed to the liner.
Although it was more common for the hood having the cape to be separately worn, not attached to the coat or to the liner, it was also common to attach the hood by unsnapping several such snap fasteners, draping the cape between the male and female portions of the unsnapped fasteners, and resnapping the unsnapped fasteners. It was known for the resnapped fasteners thus to tear holes in the cape.
Currently, such a practice of unsnapping several such snap fasteners, draping the cape between the male and female portions of the unsnapped fasteners, and resnapping the unsnapped fasteners is disapproved. Such a practice is unworkable with hoods having capes that are double-layered or very thick, whereby to conform to current standards promulgated by the National Fire Protection Association, as those hoods tend to be too thick to be so attached. Moreover, as those standards prohibit placing holes, such as button holes, in hoods, any holes torn by snap fasteners in the cape of a hood would cause the hood to become nonconforming.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,274,850 to Donald Aldridge discloses another known way to attach a hood detachably to the collar of a coat. Hook-and-loop fasteners are disclosed for fastening the hood to the collar.